Cast your votes, dairy farmers urged
Levy-paying dairy farmers are being reminded that they only have a few days left to vote in DairyNZ’s board of directors’ election.
OPINION: It was only in 2018 that the Chinese Government embarked on a mission to lift domestic milk production and stop billions of dollars from leaving the country and into the hands of exporters like New Zealand.
It paid off. Chinese net total dairy product import volumes fell 15.7% year on year in 2023, with imports of whole milk powder - a major New Zealand export product - down 395.
However, six years later over-leveraged Chinese farmers are dumping milk and culling cows because it’s no longer financially viable to be a dairy farmer.
Demand for milk has fallen in China because of a slowing birth rate and a broader pullback in consumer spending, a hallmark of China’s struggle to recover its economy.
Now, the Government is rolling out stimulus packages to help dairy farmers.
A drop in China’s milk production may be good news for NZ exporters. China’s pain could be NZ’s gain.
A couple closing in on their ultimate farming dream is taking the first steps of another farming ambition – to own a line of registered pedigree Holstein Friesians.
Merging MetService and NIWA is the right thing to do, but independent weather forecaster Phil Duncan of WeatherWatch says he isn’t sure a merged entity will boost rural weather forecasting.
While walking through supermarket aisles, young South Auckland entrepreneur Saion Angi decided that there weren’t enough Pacific or Māori products on the shelves.
Don’t expect farmers to spend money on riparian planting and fencing if their businesses are running in deficit, says Waikato Federated Farmers president Keith Holmes.
Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson, who farms at Lawrence in Otago, has personally been actively involved in assessing the situation in his region.
Fancy a career in the red meat processing and exporting sector? Then here’s your chance to apply for a scholarship.
OPINION: Earlier this month, small Waikato milk processor Tatua reminded the country that it’s still number one when it comes…
OPINION: It was only in 2018 that the Chinese Government embarked on a mission to lift domestic milk production and…